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Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 407, 19 November 1868, Page 2

We are compelled to hold over our report of the proceedings in the District Court. The case heard yesterday was that of Luke and party v. Perry and party, but it had not reached any stage of interest. We shall give a full report of the Counsels' and Judge's summing-up.

Mohikinui, celebrated for its whirlwinds and its floods, has had another visitation ia the shape of a hail-storm. It occurred on Monday, and had the effect of not only surprising the few inhabitants who are left there to witness the natural phenomena of the district, but did them a serious personal grievance by demolish-

ing evei*y cabbago-stock, onion, or other delicacy, whose growth they had for months been observing in their carefully cultivated gardens. The cause of this wholesale destruction of the vegetable diet of the population of Mohikinui will be best understood when we state — what we believe was the fact —that the majority of tho hail-stones were as large as pigeon's eggs, and presented by no means such a smooth surface. Tho windows in Mohikinui in which glass is the material used, have not lately been very numerous, and fortunately no damage in that particular, or in the penetration of iron roofs, as is said to happen in some wonderful parts of the world, resulted from the storm.

William Mackay, who committed a serious assault upon George Jones, on board the Charles Edward, on her passage from Westport to Nelson, has been found guilty, at the Supreme Court, Nelson, and received the light sentence of tlu-oe months' imprisonment and hard labor. A man named William Ouseley has committed suicide in the Nelson Hospital by cutting his throat with a table-knife. He was in delirium, tremens.

A correspondent of the Nelson Examiner states that considerable excitement has been caused at Collingwood by some new find of good heavy gold in entirely new ground, further inland than any hitherto found, partly the result of some exploring done last year. The place is described to be fifty miles from Collingwood. The attempt lately made at Mohikinui to launch the cutter Volunteer proved unsuccessful. She was brought to the water's edge, but, at that critical point, the blocks gave way, and she was again washed up high and dry. Another attempt will be made on the first favorable opportunity. The body of Henry Fry, late publican in Westport, and, who was supposed to have fallen over-board the John Penn, on which vessel he was cook, has been washed ashore in the Wanganui river. A crowded meeting has been held in Nelson, to express sympathy with the sufferers from the native outrage in the North Island, and to tender support to the Government in energetic measures to punish the offenders. The Superintendent presided The speakers were the Bishop of JNelson, Sir David Munro, Dr Irvine, and Messrs Elliott, Atkinson, Burnett, Jackson, and Harley. News reached town yesterday of a small rush having taken place to a flat on the south side of the Puller, near the Owiki, about eight miles up the river. Some good prospects are said to have been obtained, and a number of men who were in the neighborhood and who had heard of the circumstances, were so keen to be on the ground that they threw down their picks and shovels, and started off, hot-foot. Nothing like reliable particulars has yet been received.

At the Empire Hotel, on Tuesday evening, the full number of shares were taken in a sweepstake on the race for the Melbourne Cup. Yesterday, the information as to the winning horses was received from Greymouth, where the news had been brought by the Alhambra. Their names will be found in a telegram published elsewhere. The prizes in the sweepstake were three in number—£2o, £lO, and £3.

The steamer John Penn, which arrived yesterday from Auckland, via Nelson, had about seventy passengers on board. Of these, upwards of thirty are for southern ports, and a large proportion of the whole number were returned diggers from the Auckland goldfields. One passenger was Mr Harry Kennedy, late of the Melbourne Hotel, Charleston, who returns to Auckland, to open a hostelry there. From the gold-fields there is no fresh news. Intelligence of the murders in Poverty Bay had been received by the Lord Ashley, and created a great sensation. On her passage up, the Lord Ashley was hailed by the schooner Taiwera with escaped settlers and their families from Poverty Bay, whom she took on board. Three hundred men had volunteered in Auckland for active service.